Das Museum Judengasse in Frankfurt. Eine Ausstellungsanalyse.

Both historical and current narratives about the Frankfurt “Jew Alley” (Judengasse), the early jewish Ghetto in Frankfurt, schwank between two extremes: prison or sanctuary, Jewish idyll or political scandal. This polarization can be seen in the writing of history, in artistic and political debates – e.g. the Börneplatz conflict – as well as in museums’ depictions. Beginning with this observation, this on-line publication examines the Frankfurt Judengasse Museum’s permanent exhibit with the help of a semiotic exhibit analysis. Which problems does an exhibit encounter when it attempts to ‘rehabilitate’ the early modern Ghetto, while presenting Judaism in its similarity to, rather than its difference from Christian culture? This study reconstructs different attributions of meaning that have been given to the Ghetto as well as the Frankfurt-specific German-Jewish relationship nexus.